New housing project at UH Hilo begins in June

UH Hilo will break ground on phase one of a new $32 million student housing project in June. It will add 300 beds to the existing 600 beds already available on campus. The new project will be built on a 40-acre parcel across the street from the main entrance to the campus.

The new student housing project will be paid for with student housing fees and with state funding.

“If we can get half of our campus living on campus and half living off campus, that’s our vision and we’d have more of a residential campus where we can program for student success. Basically, we would have all of our freshman living on campus. That’s where we want to go,” said Hilo Director of University RelationsGerald De Mello.

De Mello also envisions a campus commercial core for students’ convenience, which will be part of the proposed second phase of the student housing project.

There are currently about 4,000 students enrolled at UH Hilo. It turns away more than 300 student housing applicants each year.

Phase one of the student housing project is set to be complete in the fall of 2013.

I agree with you Kelsi! I also think a child care center is much needed. I have a two year old son, & I’ve applied to HCC’s center twice with no response. An on-campus center would be much preferred to one off campus. I’d rather see this than a grocery store or fast food restaurants, or whatever the ‘commercial core’ entails.